Zoe lifts me off Shane's lawn. Everything hurts. I glance back at the house, and it's lively in there with the music blasting against the windows. Zoe shakes her head. I start to try to walk, and then falter. She hoists me to my feet again, and has one arm holding me up. We walk down the street; I'm limping the whole way.

    "How long was I zoning out for after Shane left?" I ask.

    "Just a few minutes." Zoe answers.

    "How come you were hanging around this street?"

    She gives me a playfully sly look. "I've got my reasons."

    I try to act like it's not bugging me that she's not telling me why she's around this street.

    It takes a while, but we soon get to the street where the store is. It's not the store I work at, it's our "competitor" as Ms. Piedson calls it. Now, in my case, I can say that it is a convenient store. It's open until eleven pm. It's only eight thirty. Early, actually, for a party.

    "Here," Zoe sets me down on the curb. "Stay here. I'll buy you some ice and stuff to help you." She examines my cuts and soon-to-be bruises."Youch. Poor thing."

    I chortle, even though it hurts to.

    Zoe walks into the store.

    She does so, and five minutes later, another person enters the store.

    Now, I normally wouldn't care if another person walked into the store. But this guy, the silhouette... he had something strange about him.

    He was holding a horse mask. And I might be crazy... but does he have a gun?

I'm freaking out. That guy had a gun. And a mask, meaning, he didn't want to be recognized. I've read enough mystery books, like Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King, to know why. I was so weak and tired, but fear sends a shot of adrenaline through my spirit.

    Zoe. Zoe's in there.

    For me.

    Angry at how helpless I am, I get up, pain ambushing my nerves. But this time, I don't care. No one is going to hurt Zoe and the other people in the not-so-convenient-anymore store.

    I'm at the glass door at the side of the store, and I peer into the store, and I'm hidden by the ice supply compartment. Inside, I see the cashier. She hasn't noticed yet. She's too into a tabloid-magazine-thing. I look for the man. I spot him out of the corner of my eye. He's in the snack food section.

    My eyes dart wildly, trying to find Zoe. Then I notice that she is moving up to the front with a handful of supplies for me. She bends down to get a candy for me. I wish I could smile. I glance back at the man, and he's heading toward the front. He put on his horse mask.

    The cashier put down her tabloid, and is directing her attention to the horse mask guy. She looks like she's laughing. She says something that I can't hear. Meanwhile, Zoe is still searching the candy.

    And then something happens that makes my blood freeze over. Horse Guy slides to the right and grabs Zoe in a headlock, her supplies collapsing to the ground.

    He whips out his gun. And put it against her head.

    Although I want to run in the store and save Zoe, I know that it's not smart to do. He would hear me, and there would be blood shed. I search for my phone in my pocket, and I realize with dread that I must have lost it when I was getting killed by my vicious stepbrother and Shane.

    I silently slip though the doors. The sound is drowned out by Horse Guy and the cashier. Zoe is struggling like a worm against the Horse Guy, trying to free herself. Her hair is covering her face.

    "-telling you – hand over the money, and she gets to live," Horse Guy growls at the cashier, who is crying and screaming.

    I go to the back of the store, where I see an old man cowering.

    "Hey," I whisper to him. "Sir, are you alright?"

    His voice quivers. "Of course I'm not ok! That mad man is gonna kill that girl!"

    "What should I do?" I ask, feeling the tickles of fear all throughout my guts.

    "There's nothing you can do." is his reply.

    He gets up uneasily, and bravely walks to the front. I sit there, gawking at what he is doing. He's gonna get killed.

    "Sir." I hear the senior say.

    "Oh no, a bystander. SO scared." I can sense the sneer and sarcasm in HorseGuy's tone.

    "Put her down."

    I look around, and I see bottles of some sort of alcohol in the back on a shelf. Silently, I grab two.

    "Make me." And then I hear a gunshot. It shatters my ears, and I drop one bottle, and it smashes to the ground, but it doesn't matter because everyone is so focused on what happened up at the front. Was it Zoe? I wonder with extreme horror and heart break.

    The doors of my heart let fury in, and with rage, I dash to the front as silently as I can with two bottles. The man is dead on the floor, and it's not pretty. He was brave. I slam the Horse Guy in the back of his neck, and my own arms ache madly. He hurls Zoe to the ground. She screams, but only for a moment. I don't even know where the cashier went. Horse Guy turns and faces me, and soon the barrel of his gun is looking as if it wants to kiss me. That's a kiss I would not like to share.

    "NO!" I hear Zoe shriek.

    Horse Guy turns to her menacingly. She looks up, tear streaks on her face like rivers. He sees her face and then softens his posture.

    "Zoe," he murmurs. Zoe shoots him a confused look.

    I hit him again with the other bottle, and this time, it shatters against his back.

    "I've called the police!" The cashier calls to him.

    Horse Guy whips back to me, takes out another gun, and throws it at me. As well as his own mask.

    He's wearing a black body-suit, so I can't see his face. He takes out his original gun and points it at the cashier.

    Bang. Bang. BANG.

    She's dead. Her blood paints the wall behind her like abstract art. He breaks open the bloody cash register and grabs at it like a child. He stuffs it in the pockets of his rugged jacket.

    The now-body-suit Guy breaks through the door and is gone.

    Zoe is still laying on the floor, and also looks up at me with horror. I am holding the horse mask and the gun. Then I see a flash of light coming from outside. Someone is taking a picture. And then sirens and blue and red flashing lights.

    Zoe picks herself up and hugs me.    

    "I thought you were going to die," She whispers, and sobs on the last word.

    I laugh, but nervousness trims it. "I thought you were going to die."